Vegan Von Vittle and the Tasty Chomp Chomps

Daring Bakers Challenge: Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

2010-07-14T02:10:00.001-07:00

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard

For those of you unfamiliar with Pavlovas (like me), they are meringue based desserts that are common in Australia and New Zealand. They are normally meringue disks, filled with whipped cream and topped with fresh fruit.

The real challenge for this is, of course, the meringue. Vegan meringue has been tried by many and with most people not having the best results. Julie Hasson is one of the nice vegan folks who worked really hard to come up with a meringue recipe that really works. I can’t post this recipe because it is on the membership side of her website, Everyday Dish. I use her recipes all the time and I have to say it’s definitely worth getting the membership!

Meringue recipe whipping in my stand mixer.

Meringue all whipped up and ready to go. I folded in 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder into the meringue and put in a piping bag with a large star tip.

Piped out meringue on parchment paper. This part was allot of fun to do and it tasted like chocolate marshmallow!

I baked the meringues at 200° overnight. They kind of remind me of the mad scientist experiments I did as a kid with chocolate chips and marshmallows in the microwave! They still felt really soft to the touch in the oven, but as soon as I took them out, they instantly hardened. They ended up being very crispy, but not in the light and airy way that meringues are. Not perfect, but definitely a really good start to having meringues!

I also made crème anglaise from the book Passionate Vegetarian. The recipe is really delicious and is a great dessert sauce. I mixed a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder with a cup of the crème anglaise for a second sauce.

The last item I made was chocolate mousse. This is my all time favorite chocolate mousse recipe that you would never guess is dairy-free! I’ve used it as a filling in cakes or just as is. It is absolutely wonderful stuff! I normally sub out the amaretto for more chocolate soy milk and it works great.

Here is the final product! A chocolate meringue disk with piped on chocolate mousse, on top of vanilla & chocolate crème anglaise, with sliced mango, kiwi and a raspberry. Very good stuff! It tasted wonderful and I am really happy with the end result.

Sorry for the lack of posts and this very late Daring Bakers post! I will be posting the Daring Cooks Challenge in a couple of days!

Daring Cooks: Enchiladas!

2010-05-19T03:14:00.001-07:00

Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

To make this challenge vegan, I decided to make the Potato-Chickpea Enchiladas with Green Tomatillo Sauce and Pine Nut Crema from Viva Vegan. This cookbook is by one of my favorite vegan authors, Terry Hope Romero. She is a co-author of some of the vegan bibles I refer to all the time: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, Veganomicon and Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

This was my first Daring Cook’s challenge and it was full of firsts for me! Before this, the closest that I got to cooking Mexican food was lazy nachos and guacamole. I knew absolutely nothing about it, but this is the exact reason why I decided to join the Daring Cooks! I was way out and of my comfort zone and that’s a good thing sometimes.

Green Tomatillo Sauce

My adventure began at New Season’s Market trying to figure out the strange world of tomatillos and chiles. Lucky for me, the produce lady was nice enough help pick out the tomatillos and chiles. She said the tomatillos should be firm & free of defects and the chiles should be wrinkle free and firm. Viva Vegan calls for jalapenos, but Dinoff is a bit of a baby when it comes to spices, so, I used Anaheim chiles.

To clean tomatillos: Remove the husks and wash well in warm water.

They have a soapy film to them, so make sure you rinse them until the skins feel smooth and squeaky clean.

Boil the tomatillos in a large pot for about ten minutes, until they start to split or turn olive green. Let cool for 20 minutes.

Blend the tomatillos (and their juices), garlic, chiles, onion and parsley until smooth. Viva Vegan calls for cilantro, but I happen to be a serious hater of cilantro! Parsley seemed to work fine for me and made it a pretty green color.

Heat up peanut oil and bring the sauce to a boil. Add veggie broth and simmer until the sauce thinly coats the back of a spoon. Stir in sugar & salt and set aside. Unfortunately, the pretty color goes away after cooking, but it is still really tasty. This sauce tastes exactly like I’ve had in Mexican restaurants!

Pine Nut Crema

The Pine Nut Crema is creamy and delicious! It bakes to a cheesy sauce texture, kind of similar to a ricotta. I think it will also go well with a tomato sauce. It’s really good stuff!

Blend silken tofu, pine nuts, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, cornstarch and salt until smooth, scraping down the blender often. Season with salt & lime juice to taste and set aside.

Potato-Chickpea Enchilada Filling

Roast the chiles in a 400° oven for about 20-25 minutes, until the skin blackens and they collapse. Put on a plate and cover with plastic wrap for ten minutes.

Remove skins and finely chop.

Dice yellow potatoes and boil until a fork easily pierces a piece. Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet or pot, heat up peanut oil with garlic. Add roasted chiles, onion, oregano and cumin. Cook until the onions are translucent, stirring occasionally.

Add veggie broth, cooked potatoes, smashed chickpeas and salt. Cook until most of the broth has been removed. Mash the potatoes to create a chunky texture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. The filling is really good on it’s own. I could easily eat it as is!

Assembling the Enchiladas

Lightly oil a large casserole dish and spread some of the Green Tomatillo Sauce on the bottom. Place some more of the sauce in a pie plate. Drop a tortilla (I used flour tortillas) in the pie plate and coat both sides with sauce. Place the saucy tortilla in the casserole dish and spoon on 3-4 tablespoons of the filling down the center of the tortilla. Roll up tightly and continue with the rest of the tortillas, placing them tightly in a single layer. Pour about a cup of the sauce over the enchiladas and save the rest to serve later.

Spoon generous dollops of Pine Nut Crema on top of the enchiladas. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the tortillas are slightly browned. Here they are right before baking:

I must confess, since becoming a vegan almost five years ago, I have not been thrilled with my vegan Mexican food options. Now I know, I just need to get off my lazy butt and make it myself! This dish is exactly what I’ve been wanting! The enchiladas are really filling and just plain awesome!

This ended up taking a huge portion of my day, but the payoff was totally worth it. Dinoff was even a big fan of it! I wish I had some more even as I am typing this!

Terry Hope Romero suggests making everything over the course of three nights and that is probably the way I will go next time. There will be a next time very, very soon!

Daring Bakers: Tiramisu

2010-03-02T02:36:00.001-08:00

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

Tiramisu used to be one of my all-time favorite desserts. What’s not to love about it? A fluffy, creamy filling with espresso soaked ladyfingers/cake and a hint of just a little bit of rum or marsala. Yes, please! Unfortunately, this is normally a rare treat in the vegan world. I made tiramisu once at school, but of course, it wasn't vegan. This is something I’ve been wanting to tackle for a while now.

Since tiramisu is a rare thing for me, I decided to make two flavors: traditional and chocolate caramel. I used the Tira Mi Su recipe from Urban Vegan and used marsala wine instead of brandy. I’ve heard nothing but great things about this book and after making this kick ass recipe, I will definitely be buying this book! This recipe is pretty simple, easy to follow and down right delicious! This will be a special occasion recipe for me because the ingredients are a bit expensive, but definitely worth it!

And now for brown pic mania. Sorry about the bad lightning!

Traditional Tiramisu

Bake sponge cake and cool on cooling rack. I forgot to take pics of the cake process! Whoopsie!

Cut the sponge cake into circles using a cookie cutter or cup. Slice the cakes in half length wise.

Whip Soyatoo! and set aside. This stuff is amazing! I cannot believe how similar it is to whipped cream!

Whip Tofutti cream cheese, marsala wine, sugar and vanilla until smooth and well combined.

Gently fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. Remove half of the whipped mixture and set aside for the chocolate caramel tiramisu.

Pour espresso in a bowl and quickly soak cakes.

Transfer cakes to ramekins or cups and spread the yummy whipped filling on top. Set aside to decorate.

Chocolate Caramel Tiramisu

I used this vegan caramel recipe from A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise blog. While I do prefer a more traditional caramel recipe without using brown sugar, this recipe was super fast and simple to make.

Melt Earth Balance in a saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and stir until combined.

Add creamer and stir. I used coconut creamer and it worked great!

Bring liquid to a boil and boil for 4 minutes, stirring frequently.

Remove from heat. Add a slurry of arrowroot and creamer. Stir constantly until well combined and set aside until cooled to room temp.

Sift one tablespoon of cocoa powder to the saved whipped filling. Silly me, I forgot to sift! Add two tablespoons of caramel sauce. Gently fold until combined.

Add espresso soaked sponge cake and caramel to a ramekin. Smooth chocolate whipped filling on top and set aside.

Smooth tiramisu tops with a cake spatula.

I bought these handy little cake stencils at Ikea. Place the stencil on top of the tiramisu and sift cocoa powder until covered. Slowly remove the stencil. The tiramisu sticks a little bit to the stencil, but it still looks pretty cool.

For a cool little trick on your plate, place a spoon on a white plate. Arrange paper towels or parchment paper next to the spoon. Sift cocoa powder on top to cover the spoon and the exposed part of the plate.

The end result is decadent and freakin’ delicious! This recipe will definitely fool any omni and is just incredible! Dinoff is not a coffee drinker, and even he loved it!

Recipe Testing!!!

2010-02-22T01:00:00.001-08:00

Earlier this month, I started testing recipes for a vegan baking book! It is tentatively titled “Vegan Bakesale”. So far, everything has been tasty and delicious!

Dinoff has been talking for years about missing the little baby sausages wrapped in puff pastry that he grew up eating as a kid. He even wrote to Tofurky requesting them! Needless to say, he was extremely excited when I told him about this recipe: Mini Sausage Rolls! This was my first time making any type of seitan and it was so easy! I don’t know why I’ve been scared about this all these years.

The end product is tasty sausages wrapped in flaky puff pastry dough. So, so good! Of course we had to eat it with vegan fancy sauce and creamy dijon.

These pretty little gems are Pinkilicious cookies! They are delicious, chewy and flavored with rosewater. Rosewater is a new ingredient for me and I have to say, I love it!

Gingered Chocolate Chip Cookies! Chewy and tasty!

My Mom's Birthday Cake!

2010-02-18T16:55:00.000-08:00

My Mom requested a chocolate raspberry cake for her birthday, so, of course I had to go with the raspberry blackout cake from VWAV. This lush and decadent dessert has four layers of cake with chocolate mousse, ganache, fresh raspberries and was wrapped in a chocolate band. This is one of the best tasting cakes I have ever made! It was rich and delicious!

To make the chocolate band, I followed directions similar to this; except I used a cake comb and a mixture of white & dark chocolate to get the striped sides.

I made modeling chocolate and molded the chocolate roses by hand. I also topped the cake with fresh raspberries and piped ganache.

Delicious!

Daring Bakers: Nanaimo Bars

2010-02-08T22:44:00.000-08:00

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and http://www.nanaimo.ca/.

So....I'm a little late (only 13 days) on January's challenge! For some reason, I really had to push myself to make this challenge. It just didn't sound that appetizing to me and I just wasn't feeling it. I finally decided to go with "better late than never" and I am so glad I did! I was wrong, wrong, wrong! Nanaimo bars are one of the best desserts I've ever had! They are rich, sinful, decadent, and just plain awesome!

January's challenge was a two part challenge:

Part 1: Make homemade graham crackers.

Part 2: Make Nanaimo bars.

We also had the option of making everything gluten free, but I opted to make my mine with AP flour.

So, what are Nanaimo bars? They are a Canadian no bake bar with three layers:

1: A chocolate layer.

2: A layer of light vanilla or custard flavoured buttercream.

3: A wafer crumb-based layer.

Graham Crackers
I used this graham cracker recipe provided by our host, but I used Earth Balance for the butter and Trader Joe's Maple Agave Blend for the honey. They were really simple to make and tasted great!

Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in a food processor.

Cut in the Earth Balance until it becomes a coarse meal.

Add agave, soy milk and vanilla and blend until the dough comes together.

Roll out dough, cut into rectangles and mark with a fork.

Bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Done!

Nanaimo Bars

I used the Nanaimo bar recipe featured on Julies Hasson's EverydayDish TV , by vegan cookbook author Sarah Kramer. I used ground pecans instead of walnuts and used dark chocolate instead of unsweetened chocolate. This recipe is amazing! They are VERY rich, so I recommend cutting them into one inch squares.

Melt Earth Balance with sugar over low heat.

Add cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.

Smooth and yummy!

Mix chocolate mixture with the flax seeds, water, ground pecans, coconut and graham cracker crumbs until combined.

Press mixture into an 8X8 pan and set aside.

Melt dark chocolate and Earth Balance and set aside.

Cream together Earth Balance, soy milk, vanilla, corn starch, turmeric and powdered sugar until well mixed.

Spread buttercream layer on top of the graham cracker layer and then pour the cooled chocolate layer on top.

Delicious!

Decadent!

They went too fast!

Daring Cannolis!

2009-11-27T23:08:00.000-08:00

Well, the time has finally come.......I did my first Daring Bakers challenge! For those of you not familar with the Daring Bakers, the Daring Bakers are a group of bloggers who accept a challenge once a month from a designated baker. The challenges are different every month and range for foccacia to opera cakes.
I have been wanting to join the Daring Bakers for quite a while, but was afraid to take the leap. There are so many awesome bakers out there posting their beautiful pics and it made me a bit nervous to try. Well, I finally joined thinking that this would be a perfect way for me to do some of the things that I learned in school and change them to vegan. I was also hoping to be challenged to do something that I would not normally make and this challenge is exactly that.
While I absolutely do love cannolis, I have not had them since going vegan. I've never given them a shot because they are normally fried, and well, that scares me a bit. Sure, we deep fried things in school, but it was with a huge deep fryer that was made for that sort of thing! I did find a couple of recipes that allow you to bake the cannoli shells, but none of them had very good reviews. Baked cannoli shells just won't bubble and puff up like the fried ones will.
Well, I gave it a shot and ended up with some pretty freakin' tasty cannolis and no oil burns!

I followed this recipe on live journal and made a few changes:

I used Earth Balance instead of shortening and Ener-G egg replacer instead of a flax egg.

I only used 1 tsp of lemon zest and 2 tsp of lemon juice.

I added 1 TB of instant clear jel to thicken the filling. It was still pretty soft, so next time I think I will add at least 2 tablespoons of instant clear jel.

Roll out cannoli dough. If you have a pasta roller, use it! This dough takes some serious muscle to roll it out thin.

I cut the dough into circles and then rolled them into thin ovals.

Wrap the cannoli ovals around the cannoil tubes and brush the inside lip with the "egg" wash to stick together. There is a fine line on how loose/tight to wrap these around the tubes. Too tight and they will be really hard to remove from the tubes. I learned the hard way on wrapping them too loose and lost my first batch while frying.

I fried these at 375° in a canola oil for a couple of minutes. Be sure to move them around with tongs to make sure they brown evenly and don't walk away at this point! They fry up fast!

Naked cannoli shells just waiting to be filled. See all the nice bubbles?!

Candy Cane Cookies & Cream Cannolis

I left out the lemon juice & lemon zest and added a few crushed Candy Cane Trader Joe Joes Cookies to the filling. I dipped the ends in melted chocolate and more crushed cookies.

Mocha Cannolis

I left out the lemon juice and lemon zest. I added coffee extract, cocoa powder and dipped the ends in melted chocolate.

My Favorite Cannolis
I added chopped chocolate to the filling, dipped the ends in chocolate and more chopped chocolate. They were the best! A little bit of sifted powdered sugar on top would have been perfect!

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Bake Sale Goodies!

2009-10-29T22:56:00.000-07:00

I visited Cannon Beach this past weekend and participated in a bake sale for the Women's Auxiliary Club. These are the goodies I made:

First up, Coconut Macaroons dipped in dark chocolate! I got this recipe from the always awesome, Julie Hasson! The recipe can be found on the membership side of EverydayDish. I must admit these macaroons were delicious! Toasty on the outside and slightly gooey on the inside. They tasted very similar to Almond Joys! They were also super easy and quick to make! You can add the chocolate chips in with the cookie batter instead of dipping them in chocolate or go crazy and do both.

Next up, mini carrot cake cupcakes with the vegan cream cheese frosting from VCTOTW. I added a bit of fresh lemon juice to the frosting and this really made it taste like the non-vegan cream cheese frosting I grew up with. The actual cupcakes are from a carrot cake recipe from school that I veganized. These little babies ended up being really moist and rich! I think the secret to keeping them moist is crushed pineapple. It also adds a great flavor and texture to the cake. I decorated the minis with toasted walnuts and fondant carrots.

Ok, these really are Perfect Vegan Sugar Cookies. I made the dough the night before and I found it really easy to work with. The dough holds its shape really well, so I plan on making these again for the holidays. I made over 11 dozen of these and dipped them by hand in the icing. It surprisingly did not take very long!

So.....I'm back!

2009-10-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

I'm dusting off the old keyboard (ok, maybe new keyboard) and will finally be posting again! Yay!

Now to answer all those questions you've been wondering (yes, you!)...

Where has the Vegan Von Vittle been?

Livin' the dream, my friends! I've been in culinary school in the Baking & Patisserie program!

Are the Chomp Chomps still Tasty?

Yup, more than ever!

What's the plan, Stan?

Well, allot:

I want to take all of the great things I learned in culinary school and apply them to vegan baking at home. With lots of birthdays and the holidays coming up, I should be a busy little baker.
I just joined the Daring Bakers Blogroll and will be participating in the monthly baking challenges starting in November.
Dinoff and I are always trying new vegan products and restaurants; soooooo, I figure why not blog about it?

Look for a new post sometime next week!

Chocolate Peppermint Cream Bars

2008-06-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

Another tasty invention by Kelly and Garrick. I think these little guys will be a holiday staple in our house! These bars are rich, creamy and delicious!

Wilton Fondant & Gum Paste, Class 4

2008-06-25T12:36:00.001-07:00

I am done with the Fondant & Gum Paste course! This course was a lot of fun, and it was nice not having to make frosting for class every week. I definitely learned a lot, and will be making fondant cakes for every occasion.
Here is my final cake. It is another blackout cake from VWAV covered in chocolate buttercream from VCTOTW. It is filled with more chocolate buttercream and strawberry jam. This cake was super moist and delicious!I again chose not to do a cake from the course book and just combined a few of the things I learned throughout the course. I am really happy with the end results!

The cake right before I covered it in fondant.

Fondant covered cake and board.

Gum paste carnations.

Daisies made out of gum paste.

BBQ Tofu with Roasted Zucchini & Carrots

2008-06-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is BBQ Tofu from Vegan Cooking For Animal Lovers DVD. This was really good, but it did not have a BBQ taste at all! I would definitely make this again, but as a tomato stew with rice.

I finally made my way over to the Uwajimaya store in Beaverton, and was completely amazed with the store! We bought lots of cool marinades and a garnishing kit. The below knife came with the kit, and it is awesome! I have used it for all sorts of veggies, and even Tofurkey sausages! I love it!

My favorite part.....roasted zucchini and carrots! The garnishing knife makes these cool little grooves on the veggies that get tasty, little crispy bits when roasted....mmmmmmm, melt in your mouth goodness!

Mmmmm Soy Curls......

2008-06-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

I came across Soy Curls about a year ago and life has not been the same since. Soy Curls are an awesome meat alternative that have a texture extremely close to chicken. They absorb any flavor and are great in curry, stir fry, pasta, vegan chicken salad or a vegan chicken noodle soup. They are really healthy and are minimally processed. Anyways.....that is my 2 cents on Soy Curls........they are the shit.

Tasty dinner with Soy Curls. Capellini pasta with marinara, Soy Curls and roasted asparagus. I think I could eat asparagus everyday for the rest of my life.

Wilton Fondant & Gum Paste, Class 3

2008-06-19T15:19:00.000-07:00

This class was all about flowers! We made carnations, daisies and the Wilton Fantasy flower. Let's just say the Fantasy flower was no fantasy of mine. I'm not posting it because it's just not very pretty. I will try making one again soon and maybe I can make it look a bit better.

I'm not a huge fan of real carnations, but I think the gum paste one's are super pretty. These are also surprising easy to make.

I think the daisies are really cute!
The final class for this course is tonight! I will post pics of my cake tomorrow.

Whoo Hoo! Peanut Butter Fudge!

2008-06-10T00:55:00.001-07:00

Another test recipe for Kelly and Garrick. This fudge is so freakin' good! It tastes like the center of a peanut butter cup. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm......

Wilton Fondant & Gum Paste, Class 2

2008-06-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

This is the cake from tonight's class. The Wilton suggestions for this course are extremely boring and ugly, so I had to find something else to make. I covered the cake with fondant and made the beach towel in class tonight; everything else I made at home a couple of days ahead.

I'm really happy with the way this turned out! This was my first time making a fondant cake and working with gum paste, so I feel pretty good about it!

We were supposed to make a draping blanket for class, but I decided to make mine a beach towel and do a whole beach scene.
I made this starfish by making an outline in gum paste with a cookie cutter and sculpting it into shape. I made all of the pore bump things with the end of a piping tip.

The shells and baby starfish are also made from gum paste.

I used smashed animal crackers for the sand...

These flip flops are my favorite!

This bucket isn't exactly what I envisioned, but it still works. It is a cupcake covered in fondant. The bucket handle and shovel are both gum paste. If I do this again, I will use two cupcakes with a smaller handle.

Wilton Fondant & Gum Paste, Class 1

2008-06-09T13:43:00.000-07:00

I have started another Wilton class at Michael's! The 1st class was pretty much just talking about the supplies and covering our cake boards with fondant. We had a choice with the colors and making a marble design or leaving it one color. I chose to do the marble design with pink and purple. This was easy to do and it looks pretty cool, but I kinda think it is a waste of fondant. I think I will only be doing this for special occasion type of things!

I start my 2nd class tonight and I am going to make a cake with a beach theme. I will post pics tomorrow!

Jam Kolaches

2008-06-06T15:48:00.001-07:00

This is another test recipe for Kelly & Garrick. I found myself very addicted to these little cookies! They have a melt in your mouth texture with a raspberry jam filling. They were really fun to make and tasted great!

Mixing the dough.....

Sifting in flour...

Cutting the cookies...

Filling with jam...

Ready to eat....

Butterscotch No Bakes

2008-06-02T14:38:00.000-07:00

I am lucky enough to be one of the recipe testers for Kelly and Garrick's vegan cookie book! I have never done this sort of thing before and I am super excited!
These Butterscotch No Bakes are my first test. They are buttery, caramely and just plain good!

Lazy Sunday Breakfast

2008-06-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

This Sunday was great.......We slept in until 12 and then pigged out on breakfast. We had organic soy, flax and blueberry waffles (the frozen kind....it's a lazy Sunday remember) with real maple syrup, grapes and bananas with Tofurkey Breakfast Links. This was my first time having the breakfast links and I loved them!

Mother's Day Cupcakes

2008-05-14T12:13:00.001-07:00

I made these for my Mom and sister on Mother's Day. They were Chocolate Mint cupcakes from VCTOTW with mint frosting. The roses were made from a veganized version of the Wilton class vanilla buttercream.

I made the roses and let them sit for an hour before adding them to the cupcake. This allowed them to crust over a bit and it made it easier to transfer to the cupcake.

Baked Tempeh Nachos

2008-05-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

We had a nacho bar type of potluck at work last week and I have been craving nachos ever since. These hit the spot and were really easy to make.

I cubed 2 blocks of tempeh and marinated them for an hour in soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, water and one can of Amy's Organic Medium Chili (any vegan chili would work). I removed all of the tempeh and whisked cornstarch with the marinade to get it to thicken up. I folded the tempeh back in to the marinade and baked it at 35o for about 30 minutes.

Chopped tomatoes and black olives.

I'm in love with avocados..........

I also made an awesome dip by mixing one package of Tofutti Cream Cheese (the trans fat free kind) with one can of Amy's Organic Medium Chili with Vegetables. This made a huge amount of dip and we have plenty for the next couple of days.

I will definitely be making this again soon. It was a no brainer and it tasted awesome.

Squirrels and Mountains

2008-05-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

I just bought a new camera and now I am obsessed with taking pictures.......

This squirrel was on our porch taunting our cats. They didn't get scared or mad, they just seemed really confused, like what the hell is that?

This is Mount Hood from outside our building. We have been living here for 4 years and I am still blown away every time that I see this.

Wilton Course 1, Class 4

2008-04-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

This was the final cake for Course 1. It is another raspberry blackout cake from VWAV filled with raspberry preserves and ganache. The roses are made from the Wilton class buttercream and the border is a chocolate buttercream. This was definitely the most challenging cake so far. I must of made about 30 practice roses, but I'm really happy with the results. I start Course 2 next week!

Wilton Course 1, Class 3

2008-04-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

These were really fun to make. The cupcakes are chocolate mint with mint frosting from VCTOTW. The frosting was forking awesome. The decorations were made out of the Wilton class buttercream.

I think the creepy plastic clown turned out kinda cute.

Started out as a teddy bear, ended up as a mouse.........

Wilton Course 1, Class 2

2008-04-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

I am taking the Wilton Course 1 Class at Michael's. The cake is a two layer blackout cake from VWAV, the frosting is the Wilton class buttercream minus the meringue powder and the filling is chocolate raspberry buttercream.
I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out. This was my first time making the blackout cake and it was soooooo good.